KPCC

We’ve all done it -- giggled at poorly timed flatulence or howled when someone takes a pie to the face. Laughter is one of the most human things we can experience, and if we’re lucky, we chortle, chuckle, crack up, giggle, grin or guffaw every day. Did you know the first recorded jokes are from 1900 BC and are all about sex and body functions? Do you know what makes the Marx Brothers, Woody Allen and Steve Martin so funny? David Misch does, and he’s written about it in his history of wit and humor, Funny - The Book: Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Comedy.

From those early chestnuts of 1900 BC to Shakespeare, Lenny Bruce, Richard Pryor, Sarah Silverman and many more, Misch takes us on a tour through the philosophy and science of comedy, a trip filled with fart jokes, hilarious body parts and humor both racially and sexually charged. And all the while, he makes a compelling argument for comedy as art, a concept not lost on Alonzo Bodden, comedian and actor who won the grand prize of the reality-television series Last Comic Standing.

David and Alonzo joined us at the Crawford Family Forum and led us on an exploration into the hilarious absurdity of the human condition, the legendary jokers that make us howl, and why it feels so damn good to laugh out loud.

David Misch: writer, creator or producer of programs including Mork and Mindy, The Muppets and Saturday Night Live for NBC, CBS, ABC, HBO, Fox and Disney, among other networks; instructor of musical satire at UCLA and “Practical Foundations of Comedy” at USC. @funnythebook

Alonzo Bodden: frequent guest comedian on KPCC’s Comedy Congress at the Crawford Family Forum; grand prize winner of the third season of NBC’s Last Comic Standing. In 2005, he released his DVD "Tall, Dark and Funny."@AlonzoBodden